This invention relates to a safety device for rodeo performers such as bull riders and bronco riders.
One of the large entertainment enterprises in the United States and elsewhere in North America is the rodeo. Bull riding and bare back bronco riding are two of the more popular events with the spectators and also with many riders. However, they are also probably the most dangerous. In riding a bull, the bull rope goes under the body of the bull just behind its front legs. The bull rope comes together on top of the animal and is held together by the rider extending a strap fixed to one end of the bull rope through a ring fixed to the other end of the bull rope. The strap is then wrapped about one hand of the rider who grips the strap as tightly as possible. Then the bull is let out of the chute with the rider on top. Rules require that the rider can hold on only by the hand about which the strap is placed.
For eight seconds the rider holds on for dear life and hopefully prize money if he is still on at the end of the eight seconds. The rider must then dismount. To dismount the rider must free his hand from the strap wrapped around it. This can be, and often is, a problem. This problem can also rear its ugly head when the rider is thrown from the bull before the eight seconds is up. Many a rider has been hurt because he could not free his hand. Rodeo clowns try hard to help any rider who finds himself in such a hazardous position. Even so many such riders are seriously hurt.
Thus, it is clear that there is an urgent need for a device which can be used to keep the rider from getting into this hazardous and frightening position. It is an object of this invention to provide such a device.